“We’re going to keep doing BufferBox,” Google Waterloo engineering director Steve Woods told the Financial Post. “We’re not going to go into great detail about our future plans, but we think there’s a real exciting space beyond this amazing start with boxes, and the idea of touching consumers as part of their end-to-end experience is something we’re going to explore together.”

If you are wondering why these retail chains are sleeping with the enemy, the answer is foot traffic. If people are coming to stores to pick up their packages, there is some likelihood that they might pick up other goods. Groceries or Big Gulps, sure, but paper goods and electronics, too.

However, fear of Amazon is enough to get Google or some other giant galvanized into snapping up this startup. I have heard rumors that Google is interested in buying the company for an amount that should get the angel investors singing in the rain. Google, which is pushing hard to get traction for its Google Checkout service, could use something like BufferBox as a way to get more businesses to use its service. For retailers, the lure of foot traffic is pretty strong.

Updated: A Google spokeswoman provided this statement on the acquisition: “We want to remove as much friction as possible from the shopping experience, while helping consumers save time and money, and we think the BufferBox team has a lot of great ideas around how to do that.”